Rage-Quitting Is A Bad Idea If You Want To Get Better At Video Games
The world of gaming is becoming increasingly competitive. These last couple of years, we’ve seen the rise of e-sports, beyond online games like Dota 2 and Starcraft, and into popular mainstream genres like the Battlefield series.
Fix Your Attitude
Video games are just like anything else: getting better is all about having the right approach. If you’re always shouting at the screen and getting in a rage, there’s a good chance that you’re not going to improve. Don’t go into a new game, expecting to win the first time around. Instead, see it as an opportunity to find out what your weaknesses are and the practice them. If you’ve got a habit of running headlong into the line of fire on Battlefield One, work out how to use the maps to your advantage so that you avoid getting killed. Don’t just rage at the game and pretend that it’s other people’s fault you suck.
Dave Sirlin is a popular game designer and e-sports player. He calls players that lose all the time “scrubs.” It’s not their lack of skill that he finds annoying, it’s the fact that they don’t think about how to correct their mistakes and they always excuse their poor performance. Accepting that you’re bad at a game is the only way to improve.
Use A Mouse And Keyboard
If you’ve been brought up on consoles, you’ll have spent a lot of time using a controller, be it for Xbox, Playstation or something else. But to really get good at reaction games, especially shooters, you need a keyboard and gaming mouse. The combination of a mouse and keyboard gives gamers the ability to react instantaneously to situations when it would take them much longer if they were using a regular controller. Don’t think that you suddenly have to join the PC master race either to use a mouse and keyboard. There are now many options out there that are compatible with regular consoles.
Watch Video Streams
Reading guides for how to play on gaming websites are helpful. But there’s only so much that they can teach you. That’s why so many people watch streaming videos of the best players in the world. Not only will you get a feeling for the speed at which these guys work, but you’ll also be privy to the tactics that they use against the opposing team.
There are now a bunch of gaming platforms you can use – including TwitchTV if you want commentary – that allow you to watch pro-gamers at work live.
Play People Who Are Better Than You
Don’t always go on the “noob” server, because you want to improve your kill/death ratio. The problem with doing this is that you’re never going to progress beyond a basic level. To get better at something, you need resistance, and so the only way to improve is to play beyond your abilities.
Don’t go up against the best in the world straight away. Instead, choose to play against people who are 10 to 20 percent better than you are. This way you’ll have enough challenge to improve, but not so much that you lose motivation.